


Promise Land

by missjmelville



Category: The Following
Genre: Character Study, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Gen, Implied Slash, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 11:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3648465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missjmelville/pseuds/missjmelville
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mouth goes dry. Joe smirks at him, as if he expected this all along, as if he was just counting the days until Ryan visited again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise Land

**Author's Note:**

> This is completely unbeta'd and mostly just my take on what was going through Ryan's head at the end of 3x05. Just had to write this to tide me over until the new ep later today.

He knows what he has to do. Has known for some time now but he’d kept it pushed far back in his mind, in the spaces reserved for all the darkness he has witnessed. He doesn’t want to, but he has to. If he wants to find Strauss, he’s going to need Joe. The entire helicopter ride gives him déjà vu. His mind briefly flashes back to two years earlier, it feels the same, only last time Joe wasn’t waiting for him at the other end of this hellish journey, just an empty cell and five dead bodies. 

His stomach is twisting in knots and his heartbeat speeds up. He’s tried so hard for the last year to forget about Joe, to move on, now it seems it was all for nothing. He enters the prison; he doesn’t have to wait long. The bright red of Joe’s prison uniform draws his gaze first and then their eyes meet. Joe looks surprisingly well for someone who has spent the last year in solitary confinement. Joe sits down, as elegantly as ever, as if they’re not in a prison, as if they’re old friends having a chat over a good scotch and a warm fire. 

His mouth goes dry. Joe smirks at him, as if he expected this all along, as if he was just counting the days until Ryan visited again. 

“What took you so long?”


End file.
